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The Vaughan Williams Foundation has made over 5000 items freely available: chiefly letters from Ralph Vaughan Williams, but including some responses which shed light on the subject matter, and also a number of letters from Adeline and Ursula Vaughan Williams. These provide further information and often include messages or observations from Ralph, and there are also letters from Adeline and Ursula written on behalf of the couple. The text of letters written by RVW and UVW remain the copyright of the Foundation.

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The letters are in tabular form and can be sorted by column, or filtered by any keyword including name, musical title, year or subject (singly or in combination). Partial matches will also be found, e.g. searching “sky” will also find “Stravinsky”. To search for a phrase use inverted commas, e.g. “New York”.

To search by letter number, include the prefix VWL, e.g. VWL123.

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Letter No. Title Date Date on Letter
VWL2354 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Arthur Benjamin 19520109 9th January, 1952.
VWL2617 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gerald Finzi 19530122 January 22nd 1953.
VWL2658 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gerald Finzi 19530218 18th February, 1953.
VWL3021 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gerald Finzi 19490608 8th June, 1949
VWL3170 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gerald Finzi 19490714 14th July, 1949.
VWL3172 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gerald Finzi 19490706 6th July, 1949.
VWL3177 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gerald Finzi 19490622 22nd. June, 1949
VWL3445 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Committee of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust 19561029 October 29th 1956
VWL3809 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sir Alexander Kaye Butterworth 19350823 August 23 [1935]
VWL3810 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sir Alexander Kaye Butterworth 19370728 July 28 [1937]
VWL3811 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sir Alexander Kaye Butterworth 19370722 July 22 [1937]
VWL3812 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sir Alexander Kaye Butterworth 19370706 July 4th [1937]
VWL3816 Letter from Tamplin & Co. to Sir Alexander Kaye Butterworth 19370714 14th July, 1937.
VWL3817 Letter from William S. Hanham to Sir Alexander Kaye Butterworth 19350829 29th August 1935.
VWL4001 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sir Alexander Kaye Butterworth 193509-- [autumn 1935]
VWL5136 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sir Alexander Kaye Butterworth 19211122 22/11/21

You have never lost your invention but it has not developed enough.  Your best – your most original and beautiful style or ‘atmosphere’ is an indescribable sort of feeling as if one was listening to very lovely lyrical poetry.

GUSTAV HOLST letter to RVW 1903

He was one of the most 'complete' men I have ever known. He loved life, he loved work and his interest in all music was unquenchable and insatiable.

SIR JOHN BARBIROLLI, conductor

I was thunderstruck by the symphony last night - and hadn't expected to be. Jagged, pulsating and angry, from that very first clanging dissonance - how can it have come from the same source as the Tallis Fantasia?

AUDIENCE MEMBER, Newbury Festival